Where to stay on the Amalfi Coast: the best towns and hotels

Positano is the Amalfi Coast of the postcards: a jumble of pink, peach and white houses stacked up a steep ravine, spilling down to a grey-pebble beach lined with rows of bright umbrellas. Offshore lie the little Li Galli islands, and the lanes between are crammed with boutiques selling linen, ceramics and handmade sandals.

It's also home to some of the coast's most celebrated hotels, from cliffside icons with Michelin-starred restaurants to hideaways with private beaches far below. The catch is the stairs: Positano is almost entirely staircases, it is crowded all summer and it is rarely a bargain. Come for the glamour, and pack comfortable shoes.

Praiano straggles along the cliffs between Positano and Amalfi, and for many people that's precisely its charm. There's no single postcard centre, just churches with majolica-tiled domes, little coves such as Marina di Praia, and terraces that catch some of the best sunsets on the coast.

Hotels tend to be smaller, with pools, spas and shuttles down to the sea, and Positano and Amalfi are both a short bus ride away. Next door, Furore is little more than a scattering of houses on the hillside and its famous fjord, a narrow gorge where a tiny beach hides beneath a soaring road bridge.

Ravello sits on a ridge some 350 metres above the sea, and it feels a world away from the bustle below. Its cathedral square is calm, its villas are wrapped in some of the loveliest gardens in Italy, and the views are the stuff of legend: Villa Cimbrone's Terrace of Infinity, lined with marble busts, is one of the great viewpoints of the Mediterranean.

Music is Ravello's other passion. Wagner found inspiration in the gardens of Villa Rufolo, where a festival is held every summer. Hotels are among the finest on the coast, from a medieval palazzo with a Michelin-starred restaurant to a 12th-century villa in its own parkland. There's no beach, though, so you'll be taking the bus or a shuttle down to the sea.

Minori is one of the most relaxed towns on the coast: a sandy beach, a pretty seafront, the basilica of Santa Trofimena and, right in the middle of town, the remains of a Roman seaside villa. It also punches well above its weight for food, and its pastry shops draw people from all along the coast.

Hotels are friendly and unpretentious, most within a short walk of the beach, with Amalfi a few minutes away by bus or boat and Ravello on the hill behind. Maiori's long beach is about a 15-minute walk along the coast.

Maiori has something rare on the Amalfi Coast: space. Its long, sandy beach, the longest on the coast, is backed by a broad, flat promenade made for buggies and evening strolls, and the town feels more like a proper seaside resort than a postcard.

Hotels range from family-friendly four-stars with private beaches and pools to a boutique hideaway among the terraced gardens of the old town, and even a B&B in a Benedictine abbey built into the rock above the sea. It's well placed for exploring by bus or boat, and Amalfi is a short ride away.

Vietri sul Mare is where the Amalfi Coast begins, just around the headland from Salerno. It's famous for its ceramics: shopfronts, the church dome and even the street signs glow with hand-painted tiles, and there's a museum dedicated to the craft. Below the old town, the Marina di Vietri has a beach and a handful of hotels right by the sea.

It's the most practical base on the coast, with Salerno's trains and ferries minutes away and less of the coast road to tackle. There are smart five-stars too, set on the hillside with views along the coast, and Amalfi, Ravello and Positano are all within reach.

Up in the Lattari Mountains, Agerola is where the Sentiero degli Dei, the Path of the Gods, begins: a cliff-top trail high above the sea that ends near Positano, with views that make every step worthwhile. The village is cooler than the coast, surrounded by woods and pasture, and known for its cheeses.

Places to stay are simple and friendly, mostly family-run B&Bs and guesthouses a few minutes from the trailhead, many with terraces and gardens looking out over the mountains or down to the sea. It's the ideal base if you'd rather spend your days walking than lying on a sunlounger, and Amalfi lies below, down a road of spectacular hairpins.